Heroic Polish Woman’s Life Being Celebrated in Broadway Play

24 September 2008

Irena Gut

Irena Gut, who rescued 12 Jews after she was pressed into forced labor as a housekeeper for German Major Edward Rugemer in Tarnopol during the Nazi occupation in World War II, is now the heroine of a new Broadway play. “Irena’s Vow” opened September 22 Night at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. The role of the Catholic Irena Gut is performed by the well-known Jewish actress Tovah Feldshuh, one of the best known Jewish actresses. . In 1949, Irena Gut left Poland for the United States in 1949, married William Opdyke, and lived there until she passed away in California in 2003. Polish President Lech Kaczynski decorated her posthumously with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. According to the Polish Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski planned to attend the play while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.